A Seventh Heaven Holiday
by AznTigress
Summary: Cloud discovers that Christmas trees can make crazy people even crazier and that one should not judge a gift by its wrappings. OneShot


**A/N:** This takes place after the game when Denzel became part of the FFVII crew. Yes I know it's a little late for the holidays, but better late than never! Hope you've had a happy holiday!

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**A Seventh Heaven Holiday**

It was the first Christmas the members of Avalanche have had and everybody was in the holiday spirit. Everyone was pitching in to decorate Seventh Heaven's very first Christmas tree and it really showed. In the bar room, ornaments, tinsel, strings of popcorn, and other tree-decorating necessities littered the floor. Cloud had been wise enough to stay away from the so-called "decorating crew," which consisted of Yuffie, Tifa, Marlene, the new kid Denzel, and Cid. Looking around, he notices that Vincent wasn't there for the festivities. Then again, Vincent being at a party is pretty unusual anyhow so Cloud shrugs the absence off.Red XIII couldn't make it on account of he was celebrating the holidays with his tribal family back in Cosmo Canyon. The young man could only imagine the chaos if the creature had decided to celebrate the season with them instead. He smiles as he pictures a well-decorated Red XIII with Denzel and Marlene hanging more tinsel over the poor thing.

Cloud ducks in time to avoid a flying ornament, courtesy of Tifa who seemed a little perturbed by the young man's lack of participation.

"C'mon, Cloud," she exclaims with a smile. "Help us decorate the tree."

Cloud analyzes the now elaborately smothered tree which he had helped carry home with Barret earlier in the day. The bottom half looked as if the decorations were alive, latched onto the tree's leaves like leeches. The disheveled appearance could have only been done by none other than Marlene and Denzel, their short stature preventing them from decorating any higher up. Then the upper-half looked like the decorations box blew up, the ornaments and tinsel hanging off the tree as if they were just haphazardly tossed there. This was due to decorating differences between Cid and Yuffie, each obviously wanting the tree to be decorated in their way. Tifa had so far been unable to make either happy with her suggestion that each decorate one half of the tree. With that came the heated "discussion" on how to divide the three in half, leaving the poor girl utterly helpless with the situation.

With a sigh, the dark-haired brunette saunters up besides Cloud with a sigh. "I don't know what to do with those two. They're both so stubborn."

"Yuffie will be Yuffie and Cid will be Cid," affirms Cloud with arms crossed across his chest. "There's really nothing you can do about it."

"True, true," agrees Tifa, rubbing her temples with both hands. "So _very_ true."

"Where's Barret?" wondered Cloud.

"Oh, Marlene told him to go somewhere else and come back later," answered Tifa. "She wanted to surprise him."

"Well," began Cloud, looking at the tree with a smirk. "He'll be surprised all right. Very."

An air of silence passes between the two while they watch the tree getting fancied up with various knickknacks.

"Cloud…"

"Hmm?"

"I…"

Before Tifa could say another word, the dynamic duo Cid and Yuffie pop up in their faces with equally unhappy expressions.

"Cloud…"

Tifa…"

"Yeah," exclaim the two in question.

Suddenly, Yuffie pulls out a beautiful angel tree-topper while Cid whips out a sparkling shiny star. Tifa and Cloud could only guess what the new debate was going to be over.

"WHICH ONE IS GOING ON THE TOP OF THE TREE?!"

Cloud and Tifa jumped at the sudden loudness of the question. Both didn't know what to do or say, but that didn't seem to deter the two determined decorators.

"Well, why don't you guys ask Marlene and Denzel?" suggests Tifa nervously. "The tree _is_ for them, after all."

"Uhm…" stutter out Denzel. "Marlene and I decided to let you and Cloud pick since we already did our part in decorating the tree."

Marlene hurriedly nods to show her agreement. Cloud and Tifa eye the two children suspiciously, suspecting that the kids were just trying to keep Cid and Yuffie off their backs.

_Smart move, Denzel,_ thought Cloud. _I'd have done the same thing, too, if I could._

Suddenly, Tifa was no longer by his side as she had moved behind the debating decorators. Shocked by the sudden abandonment, Cloud's wide eyes demanded an explanation from the brunette.

"Sorry, Cloud," she apologizes profusely. "But I already helped decorate the tree. You haven't done anything to contribute yet so it's all up to you."

Shooting a glaring look that yelled out "traitor" to his childhood friend, Cloud could do nothing but face Yuffie and Cid as they impatiently await his decision. Looking at the two tree-toppers, Cloud was caught between two memories: the angel reminded him of Aerith while the star brought back memories of the night he made a promise to Tifa. It was like choosing between the people they symbolize and the tough choices made his head hurt. He searches his pockets for something to alleviate his headache when his hands touched on something soft. With a smile, Cloud whips out the Tissue he got as a consolation prize at the Battle Square in the Golden Saucer and proceeds to cover the top of the tree with it. Yuffie and Cid's mouths were gaped open in shock at Cloud's unexpected response while Tifa and the kids try to suppress their laughters.

"There, the tree's done," declares Cloud with a grin. "Now, how about we start putting the presents under it?"

Just then, Barret came in along with none other than Vincent Valentine. Everyone was surprised by the unexpected visit. However, no one looked as surprised as Barret, who stares at the tree with a look of disbelief.

"Okay," he began. "Who done gone and crapify the tree?"

Laughter broke out from all corners of the room, save for Vincent, who could only smile behind his high-collared cloak. With arms loaded with several well-wrapped gifts, he and Barret proceed to place it under the tree.

"Where are those from?" asks Cid with curiosity.

"Reeve," replies Barret. "He said he couldn't make it on account of that WRO thing he's workin' on. He says Merry Christmas to everyone and hopes ya'll like the presents."

Just then, Marlene points out a mysterious box that Vincent had hidden under his cloak.

"What's that, Vincent?" she wonders with wide eyes.

Everyone stared at the quiet man until he presents the haphazardly wrapped gift he was hiding. The room went utterly silent, making Vincent feel quite nervous by the suddenly intense atmosphere.

"What?" he exclaims.

"Who's that for, Vincent?" wonders Yuffie.

"Uh… hmm…" Vincent didn't really know what to say so he simply holds the present out and turns his head away to prevent himself from seeing their potentially surprised faces when he tells them. "It's… ah… for all of you."

"One present for all of us?" reiterates Cid as he raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"It's so small," points out Denzel. "What's inside?"

"Well," began Vincent. "You'll find that out tomorrow morning at Christmas."

"Fat chance!" exclaims Yuffie as she snatches the gift right out of Vincent's clawed hand.

Panic washes over the gunman as he watches the girl rip the wrapping off, trying to get at the present inside. "What are you doing? It's not Christmas yet."

"You just don't want to be here when we open your present so I'm opening it now," retorts Yuffie as she continues to take the gift-wrap apart. "Dang it! How many layers did you put on this thing?"

Before Vincent could make a move towards the door, Cid and Barret stop him in his tracks, forcing him to endure whatever it was they were going to throw at him upon discovering what he had given them.

At long last, Yuffie finally gets the last layer of wrapping paper off, with Marlene and Denzel diving in to help out. The three minors open up the brown box to find a very well-polished and shiny key inside. Perplexed, Yuffie takes the key out and holds it up for all to see.

"A key?" exclaims Barret with a confused expression on his face. "You're giving us a key?"

"What is it a key to?" wonders Tifa.

"Uh…mm…" Vincent hadn't felt as embarrassed as he does now before in his life. Since no one was willing to let him go until they got answers, Vincent gives a big sigh. "The key is… to my room."

"Er, what?" popped Cloud with a raised eyebrow.

"The room… in the Shinra mansion," explained Vincent. "Where you found me."

"Oh yeah," exclaims Tifa. "I remember now. We found that key in a safe in one of the mansion's rooms."

"Right, the safe," added Cloud. "Yeah, it's the same key we used to unlock the door to the room where your coffin was."

As expected, the poor kids Marlene and Denzel had no idea what everyone was talking about.

"And you're giving this to us?" reiterated Yuffie looking up at Vincent with a funny look on her face.

"… Yes," was the reply she got from the man.

"Well then," began Cid, scratching his head. "I guess that's the Merry Christmas we're going to get from Vincent this year."

"I'll take it," exclaims Tifa, snatching the key out of Yuffie's hands. "I'll put it in a picture frame and hang it over the bar."

"No, that won't be necessary," vociferated the gunman.

"Yeah, that'd look real nice over the bar," agrees Cid. "Brings a little more shine in this place."

"Yep!" added Yuffie.

As the others began breaking out into conversation, Cloud stood by and watched as the party went on. With a smile, he could only wish everyone close to him could be here right now. Gazing out the window, he watches as snow began to slowly fall over Edge.


End file.
